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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The last suppers

Andy left for his dive trip this morning—at 5.15 am, to be exact.That’s pretty early.Now I’ve got a month of cooking for one.I’m planning to eat lots of the stuff he doesn’t love, like corn bread, bagels, and muffins.It sounds very carb-y, and that’s okay, but I expect I’ll eat a lot of veggies as well.I haven’t cooked for one since I left the US two years ago, and I had a giant freezer for leftovers then, so it will be a bit of a challenge, but Andy has a few more trips over the next three years so I’d better get used to it!

Anyways, these are the last few meals-for-two that we had.

Monday night we made a last minute decision to have pizza.Luckily, I had a ball of dough in the freezer, so we thawed it out in a sink of hot water and then loosely followed a recipe from the newspaper.The original was called “Pumpkin, Spinach and Ricotta Pizza”.Ours was roasted rosemary pumpkin, baby spinach, green capsicum, a few capers and olives, and then whole fresh basil leaves on top.I sprayed the whole pizza with oil so the basil leaves semi-fried themselves in the oven and got all crispy.Yum.

Then, for the very last meal before going to an island with no grocery store, Andy wanted mushrooms.Every fortnight a barge delivers food from the mainland, but mushrooms don’t weather the trip so well.And luckily they were marked down at the shop yesterday afternoon, so he got three or four containers.When I came home, one container of portabellas was marinating in a mixture of soy sauce, orange juice, and garlic, to be baked later.Another container of pre-sliced mushrooms became part of a simple tofu scramble.We got a very cool white-skinned, purple-fleshed sweet potato from the market, so we tossed that with oil, cinnamon and brown sugar to make sweet potato fries.And to add in some more fresh veggies we had a salad of avocado, raw corn, and cherry tomatoes.

The sweet potato fries, pre-sugar’n’spice.

The whole meal.I couldn’t decide whether the flash photo or the no-flash was better, so I’m putting up both! Click for a bigger version.

PS—Remember this day in 2000 when upwards of 20,000 people protested and blockaded the spring meetings of the World Bank and the IMF? Me either, I was in 10th grade and was more focused on my assignments than on global issues. But there were puppets, there was street theatre*, there was communal housing, there were bands and games and fun and protest, and, most importantly, there were 20,000 people! 20,000 people who gave a damn about the way the world was going. When I went to protest the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF in 2005, there were probably 2000 or 3000 people there. What happened to everyone? The optimist in me would say they are off fighting where it really matters, on the local level. That's where I prefer to do my activism. But I am aware that a lot of people get burnt out and/or jaded--which reminds me: we all need to relax every now and then and just take some time for ourselves. So tonights plan: hot bath with essential oils and a non-uni related book!

*That's right, theatre, not theater. Although I'm from the US with our -er and -or endings, I have changed to -re and -our endings of the British and Australian spelling, as Alec astutely noticed last week. My reasoning is mostly practical, since my academic writing is viewed by other Australians and the local spelling is easier on their eyes. But I also sort of just like it better.

13 comments:

It's probably just because I'm a New Zealander but I always felt the British ending (theatre) was more appealing on the eye than the US version (theater). It's always the thing I struggle with when reading other blogs. I just want to get in there and change it!

I'll be interested to see how you get on cooking for one. I love cooking but found that when it's just me I can't justify spending so much time and effort on a meal than I can for when it's 2 (or more) of us.

Oh my, Theresa, you were in 10th grade in 2000? Oh my, I couldn't help but feel old when I read that. I was already teaching in my current job. Wow. My impression of what happened in that the protesters were literally raked over the coals by law enforcement and other government types, which curbed their future activism. Throughout 2000 there was a major crackdown (funny word) on WTO and other protesters.

That food looks delicioso! Most nights I cook with my wife (which means she basically cooks, despite my protests to help her; she basically lets me slice the tomatoes and that's about it), but I do enjoy being able to cook fully for myself.

I actually got into a little debate with one of my friends about spelling theater vs. theatre. I did some research on when the British spelling changed to the American, of course I forget all about it now. I also agree it looks more proper to be spelled the British/Aussie way. I think it's kind of like how I always think British people sound smarter and more sophisticated than Americans because of their accents (unless it's a street cockney accent which I can't even understand- I literally couldn't understand what some guy on the street was saying to me last spring when I was in London).

It's great to hear when people form to protest, and sad when people just don't care. I think overall young people are becoming more interested in politics and large global issues; I think the amount of young people interested in the upcoming US election is good evidence of this.

P.S. You also make me feel old saying you were in 10th grade in 2000. I'm not much older than you, but for some reason every year I seem to get a year older... ;)

wow, incredible pizza! oh, and i'm american, but i prefer British/Aussie -re vs. -er endings, too! i want to say that it's because i read a lot of british fiction as a child? anyway, it's always seemed more elegant and natural to me that way, but i usually have to go with -er for practical reasons...

Oh my goodness Andy's gone for a month?! You are gonna get lots of cooking for one experience. Pizza sounds like a great send off, I'm planning on making some this week (though neither of us are going anywhere).

The Tropical Vegan

Vegan food and low-impact living in the Dry Tropics. Navigate using the tags, below, or by looking at the posts I've grouped under headings, across the top.

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